Essay About Civil Engineering And World Trade Centre Buildings

World Trade Centre Disaster: Building Performance
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The World Trade Centre buildings (WTC-1 and WTC-2) were 110-story towers located in New York. On the
morning of September 11, 2001, two hijacked commercial jetliners were deliberately flown into the WTC towers,
which resulted in the collapse of these towers. These events were among the worst man-made building disasters
and loss of life from any single building event. Over 3000 people lost their lives that day at the World Trade
Center (WTC) site, including 343 emergency responders. The world was shocked by the attacks and resulting
collapse of office buildings that had been in use everyday. This article briefly presents observations, findings,
and recommendations regarding the performance of World Trade Centre towers (WTC-1 and WTC-2). It also
describes the structural and fire protection features of these two towers and their performances in response to
the terrorist attacks. The ability of the two towers to withstand aircraft impacts without immediate collapse as
long as they did, and allow the evacuation of most building occupants was admirable. Studies should be
conducted determine, given the great size and weight of the towers, whether there are feasible design and
construction features that would permit such buildings to arrest or limit a collapse, once it began.
INTRODUCTION
Civil Engineering, which is one of the oldest professions, is a broad engineering field. Civil engineers
provide modern society with vital infrastructure and lifeline systems such as cities, roads, buildings, bridges,
railroads, water systems, etc. In addition, they protect society from extreme forces of nature such as high winds,
earthquakes and floods. Civil engineers design, build and manage water resources, and waste water treatment
facilities. Civil engineering includes environmental engineering aspects. Transportation engineers and
geotechnical engineers are civil engineering graduates. Structural design and construction constitutes a major
component of civil engineering related activities. The civil engineering program at McMaster University provides
specialization in two areas, namely Structures and Geotechnical Engineering Stream, and Water and
Environmental Engineering Stream.
By far the largest percentage of structures inventory worldwide is buildings. Similarly, the largest
percentage of structures under construction is buildings. “Building” means any structure used or intended for
supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy. In Canada, all buildings must satisfy the National Building Code
requirements. (NBCC, 2005, NFC, 2005) NBC is essentially a code of minimum regulations for public health, fire
safety and structural sufficiency with respect to the public interest. It establishes a standard of safety for the
construction of buildings, including extensions or alterations, the evaluation of buildings undergoing a change of
occupancy and upgrading of buildings to remove an acceptable hazard. National Fire code is a model set of
technical requirements designed to provide an acceptable level of fire protection and prevention